kevincomerford's Journal

This rainy afternoon I paid a visit to BC's Pine Nature Preserve. I had been here before but I never paid so much attention to the nature there. I found a large hole in the ground that seems like it could house some sort of animal. I found many fungi but it wasn't easy, and I'm pretty sure one of them was moss. But keeping my eye extra open made me notice so many more things. It held true that there are microbes everywhere, every fallen branch, every tree, and every stone had something growing on it even if it was minute. The organisms I found growing on the rocks and the tree had interesting textures and made me think of class with colonies having unique shapes. It was cool seeing different colonies next to each other forming slightly different shapes based on the contour of the rock or tree. I look forward to going back!

Today I went back to Houghton Garden right as the sun was setting around 5:30. I tried to look for the four main groups of plants, Byrophyta (mosses), Polypodiopsida (ferns), Gymnosperms (pine trees), and Angiosperms (flowering plants) and was easily able to find all of them. I also saw many chipmunks, birds, and squirrels. My friend Chloe and I went and had a great time climbing on trees and throwing things into the water. Seeing the mosses I noticed they were in damp areas, as water retention is more difficult. The ferns were also low lying but were able to be higher up than the mosses. The Pine trees seemed less abundant than other types of trees but were still present and their needles were waxy and and hard. Finally the flowering plants were very abundant and spread across every area of the forest showing they have the most current adaptations to this environment. Overall it was a great walk where I saw a variety of organisms (including some fungi!) and really enjoyed meandering along the trails.